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All prisoners have families...
Incarcerated men and women have families living on the outside. Nearly two-thirds of mothers and one-half of fathers in prison lived with their children before they were incarcerated. This familial relationship considerably influences an offender’s rate of recidivism and the overall well-being of his or her children. Consequently, policies that affect prisoners’ relations with their families greatly affect the health and safety of not only those directly involved with the criminal justice system but also the community at large.
...yet maintaining these essential relationships is difficult.
Multiple prison policies harm prisoner-family relations. Visitation hours are restrictive, and oftentimes offenders are incarcerated over 100 miles from home, making it difficult for a family to visit their incarcerated member. Moreover, child custody laws unduly endanger incarcerated parents’ ability to keep their children if their incarceration causes their children to be placed in foster care for 15 out of 22 months. Prison nurseries that allow incarcerated mothers to remain with their newborn children are few and far between. Additionally, offenders’ access to the public resources they need to care for their families is limited, and incarceration rather than family-based treatment programs weaken prisoners’ ability to draw from the encouragement, accountability, and practical help that their families can provide.
Justice Fellowship calls for policies that support and involve families.
Justice Fellowship believes that families have intrinsic worth and that family members are responsible to care and provide for each other. Visitation policies and child custody laws should support and strengthen family interactions. Providing parents with educational and vocational training, family-based treatment programs, and post-release access to welfare benefits will equip them to care for their children after reentering society. To these ends, Justice Fellowship has actively endorsed the Second Chance Act, which authorizes grants for state and local prisons to operate family-based, substance abuse treatment programs and establishes a pilot program for home detainment of non-violent, elderly offenders. The Act also authorizes grant money for reentry training and mentoring to help parents successfully prepare to enter the workforce. Justice Fellowship also developed recommendations for “Keeping the Family Together When a Member Is Incarcerated.” In order for true healing and peace to come in the aftermath of crime, prisoner relationships most essential to their well-being and the well-being of their communities must be a priority.
Justice eReports
Helping Children of Prisoners
November 10, 2009, Vol. 8, No. 12
Strengthening the Families of the Incarcerated
June 12, 2008, Vol. 7, No. 8
Giving Prisoners a Second Chance
April 24, 2008, Vol. 7, No. 6
House Passes Second Chance Act, 347-62
November 2007, Vol. 6, No. 12
Second Chance Act Dies on Last Night of Senate Session; We'll Be Back
December 21, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 10
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